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Get to know the record 26 Buckeyes who will compete in Tokyo

Ohio State has its largest number of Olympians in history heading to the Tokyo Games!

By meganhusslein

I’m coming back at ya with another week of Olympic content! My last article was about the greatest Ohio State Olympians in school history — go check that out if you haven’t already. For this week, I wanted to give you the lowdown on all of the Buckeyes competing in this year’s Tokyo Olympics.

So now, even if you have zero interest in a certain sport, you can find a rooting interest if there is a Buckeye competing — whether they are on Team USA or not. Let’s dive (sorry for the dad joke) into it!

Ohio State Team USA members

Adelaide Aquilla | Track and Field

Earlier this month, Adelaide Aquilla won the NCAA outdoor national championship in shot put just months after winning the indoor title earlier in the year. The junior won both the Big Ten indoor and outdoor shot put titles in 2021 as well.

Aquilla was named Ohio State’s Female Athlete of the Year earlier this month, after setting school and conference records.

Hunter Armstrong | Swimming

Armstrong is the first Ohio State swimmer to qualify since 1956! The sophomore is from Dover, Ohio where he was an eight time All-State swimmer, and went on to compete for West Virginia University for his freshman year before transferring to OSU this season. His top finishes at Big Tens include a runner-up in the 100 backstroke, third in the 100 free and fourth in the 50 free. He earned four All-America honors at the NCAA championships, including honorable mention honors in the 100 backstroke after finishing 13th. Additionally, he was part of the first-team All-America 200 medley relay team that finished fourth at the NCAA championships. He qualified for the Wave II U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100 back, 50 free and 100 free events.

Anavia Battle | Track and Field

Battle qualified in the 200-meter dash, breaking her own previous personal best time. She has earned Big Ten Conference Outdoor Athlete of the Year. This is the first time Ohio State has two or more Olympians in women’s track and field.

Christine Clemons | Track and Field

Christine Clemons, a 2012 OSU graduate and two-time NCAA hurdles champ, will be competing in the 100 meter hurdles for Team USA. You also may recognize her from her Doritos earrings she wore during the Olympic trials and then rushing up into the stands to celebrate with her grandmother.

Following her viral celebration and race accessories, Doritos put Clemons on a bag of her own to commemorate the happy occasion.

Henry Leverett | Air Pistol

SHOOTING-WC2021-IND-ISSF Photo by MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images

Henry Leverett (center in image above) won the United States’ only quota for 25M Rapid Fire Pistol at a World Cup in China, but finished second at our Olympic Tryouts. USA Shooting was able to exchange a couple of quotas with the ISSF to get the second Rapid Fire Pistol quota that Henry is filling.

On the world stage, Henry has represented Team USA in a dozen international competitions including World Cups, Junior World Cups and World Championships, and Junior World Championships from 2016-19.

He will be competing in Tokyo with his brother Jack (left above, more info below).

Jackson Leverett III | Air Pistol

Jackson Leverett III was named to Team USA after Keith Sanderson — who had already qualified — was suspended due to accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct.

This past March, Jackson won the Open individual title, placing first in both air pistol and standard pistol. His performance helped the Buckeyes secure a team championship in the evnet.

Prior to coming to Ohio State, Jackson set four USA Shooting national records in junior men’s rapid fire and junior men’s sport pistol. He earned a spot on Team USA for the 2019 Pan American Games and assisted Team USA in earning gold medals at the 2018 Championship of the Americas for both men’s air pistol and men’s rapid fire.

Ruby Remati | Synchronized Swimming

2021 Artistic Swimming World Series Super Final - Day Four Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images

The story of how Ruby Remati qualified is quite interesting. During a qualifying event, Lindi Schroeder and Anita Alvarez were competing in an event called a duet. However, Alvarez passed out following a previous event due to exhaustion, so Remati stepped in to team up with Schroeder and scored high enough to secure an Olympic spot.

Remati, an incoming freshman at Ohio State, will go to Tokyo along with Schroeder and Alvarez.

Kyle Snyder | Wrestling

Team USA Portraits For Tokyo 2020 Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

A quarter of my last Olympic article was about him, but I’ll give you a quick recap. Kyle Snyder was a three-time NCAA champion and four-time NCAA finalist for Ohio State during his college years, and became the youngest man in history to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States.

Snyder is the only member of the 2020 Olympic Team who has participated in the Games before, and, despite his young age, he’ll be the veteran on this squad. Snyder will now return for his second Olympics after topping his former teammate Kollin Moore in the Trials in April, and he’ll look to defend his Olympic crown.

Alec Yoder | Gymnastics

After out on a shot at the 2016 Olympics because of injury, former Buckeye Alec Yoder will compete as a pommel horse specialist in Tokyo this summer. Yoder was an eight-time All-American for Ohio State between 2016 and 2019, including being a three-time All-Around All-American. Yoder won a national championship on the pommel horse his senior season and earned All-America honors on the parallel bars.

After reading all that, you may think the Scarlet and Gray will only be represented by nine athletes (which is still amazing), but, this is just not so. A record total of twenty-six Buckeyes will be at the Tokyo Games, with 17 of them competing for other countries. Thanks to varying international competition rules, in some cases, you need only to have some sort of national heritage to compete for a country, whether you’ve actually ever lived there or not.

So, let’s take a quick look at the remaining 17 athletes, who will be competing for non-United States countries.

Buckeyes Competing for International Countries

Name Sport/Country Bio
Name Sport/Country Bio
Marc-Antoine Blais Fencing, Canada Belanger was the 2018 NCAA champion.
Emily Armstrong Synchronized Swimming, Canada In 2015, Armstrong swam at the Canada Winter Games with her sister, Amy, winning a bronze medal in the solo and team events for Team Ontario. She would join the junior national team for both the 2016 and 2018 Junior World Championships, placing top-10 in eight of her nine events over the two years . In 2019, she swam for the senior national team at four FINA World Series events, which included winning gold in the highlight routine in Quebec City. She helped Canada win the overall FINA World Series Super Final title. She also competed for Canada at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, winning a gold medal in the team event and securing Canada’s spot at Tokyo 2020.
Ruslan Gaziev Swimming, Canada Gaziev, who is originally from Toronto, Ontario, and will compete for the Canadian Olympic Team. Gaziev is a rising junior like Armstrong, and will compete in the 4x100 relay.
Alanna Goldie Fencing, Canada Goldie won 2017 silver at the NCAA championship.
Eleanor Harvey Fencing, Canada Harvey was the 2016 NCAA champion.
Nichelle Prince Soccer, Canada Prince made the 2016 Olympic team for Canada when she was a senior at Ohio State. She helped her team to a Bronze medal. Prince was selected 28th overall in the 2017 NWSL draft by the Houston Dash. She also played for the Women's National Team at the 2019 World Cup.
Elodie Ravera Rowing, France Ravera earned herself a spot on Team France in double sculls at the 2015 Rowing Championships. Her senior year at Ohio State, she was a part of the 2014 National Championship team, and then went on to play in the 2016 Rio Games for France.
Anneta Kyridou Rowing, Greece Anneta, competing for the Games for the first time in her career, is the third crew from the sport of rowing to be in Tokyo.
Maria Kyridou Rowing, Greece Anneta's sister Maria will also be a first time Olympian. She and her partner were the first to qualify for Tokyo.
Alessandra Montesano Rowing, Italy Montesano earned a Bronze medal for Italy in 2018 at the U23 World Rowing Championships. The rising senior helped her boat to a second-place finish at Big Ten Championships and sixth-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships.
Diego Cervantes Fencing, Mexico Cervantes, a rising junior, has been a member of the Mexican National Team since 2015, and finished first at the Pan American Zonal Olympic Qualifier to secure his spot this year.
Ilse Paulis Rowing, Netherlands Paulis was a 2012 All-Big Ten Second Team honoree in her lone season as a Buckeye. In 2014 at the U23 World Rowing Championships, she won gold in the lightweight single sculls. Paulis and her lightweight sculls partner, Maaike Head, won gold at the 2016 Rio Games, and were also named Dutch Team of the Year following the Olympics.
Misha Koudinov Gymnastics, New Zealand Koudinov, who specializes on parallel bars, is making his second Olympic Games appearance, having competed on all six apparatus at the 2016 Rio Games for New Zealand. His highest finish was 16th on vault in Rio. Koudinov was a 2012 All-American for the Buckeyes and a 2013 team captain.
Maggie Barrie Track & Field, Sierra Leone She competed in the women's 400 meters at the 2017 World Championships. In 2019, she competed in the women's 200 meters and women's 4x400 meters relay at the 2019 African Games. The 2018 graduate was the 2017 Big Ten Champion (outdoor 4x400m relay), owns the school record in the indoor 4x400m relay, and the 400, and was a three-time First Team All-American.
Aina Cid Centelles Rowing, Spain Cid Centelles competed in the 2016 Olympics. During her time at Ohio State, she was a three time NCAA and Big Ten Champion, and led her boat to undefeated records two years in a row.
Matthew Abeysinghe Swimming, Sri Lanka He graduated this year with a degree in sports industry. During his time at OSU, he was a seven-time relay All American. This will be Abeysinghe’s second time competing in the Olympics.
Eric Harrison Track & Field, Trinidad & Tobago Harrison was honored as Big Ten Freshman of the Year at the 2018 outdoor championships. He earned All-America honors as part of the Buckeyes NCAA runner-up 4×100 outdoor relay team in 2018. This year, Harrison and Anavia Battle were both named Big Ten Track Athletes of the Week in April.

There will be a grand total of 26 former, current, and future Ohio State athletes competing in this year’s Olympic Games. While not all of them are competing for the United States (the Buckeyes are representing 12 different countries), they will all still be representing the Scarlet and Gray in Tokyo.

I am really excited to watch all of these athletes bring home the gold for their respective countries (and Ohio State), and I hope this story gives you some rooting interest as well. Go Bucks!

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